In the late 1970s, a group
of Episcopal clergymen with typical American chutzpah wrote to Pope Paul VI.
They said they wanted to become Catholics, and wished for their priestly
ministry to be fulfilled by being ordained as Catholic priests. The only problem
was that they had wives and children.

Paul VI received their
petition, and they heard nothing. In the autumn of 1978, the pope died; then
another pope died, and John Paul II took charge. The little group of Episcopal
priests waited with crossed fingers and bated breath while Rome made a decision.
In 1980 they finally had an answer: A procedure was to be established whereby
former Episcopal priests could be ordained as Catholic priests, even if they
were married. Individual bishops would apply to a papal delegate for a
dispensation from the vow of celibacy, and after suitable training the Episcopal
priests could be ordained as fully functioning Catholic priests.

Since 1983, about 75
married former Episcopalian priests have been ordained in the United States.
When the Anglican Church was splitting over women’s ordination in the early
1990s, the English Catholic bishops also appealed to Rome for permission to
ordain married former Anglicans. Permission was granted, and the English bishops
set up their own procedure. No one is certain of the exact numbers, but since
the early 1990s about 600 former Anglican priests have been ordained in England,
of whom about 150 are married. Married former Anglican priests have also been
ordained in Scotland and in Spain.

Who’s In and Who’s Out?
Rev. William Stetson is the priest who assists Archbishop John Myers of Newark
in administering the Pastoral Provision. I asked him why, if Anglican orders are
null and void, Episcopalians and Anglicans get special treatment. Why couldn’t a
married Baptist minister convert be ordained as a Catholic priest? Father
Stetson explained that there is a special situation for men from the Anglican
communion—not because their orders are more acceptable, but because their
priestly experience, theological training, and spiritual formation is closer to
Catholicism.

Indeed, married converts
from other denominations have been accepted for ordination as well. Jim Anderson
of the Coming Home Network reports that in the United States, Catholic
men who came into full communion from the Lutheran, United Methodist,
Presbyterian, Charismatic Episcopal, and Continuing Anglican churches have also
been ordained as Catholic priests. Dom Bartholomew Leon, O.S.B., pastor of the
Maronite congregation in Greenville, South Carolina, observes that the Eastern
Rite churches have had married priests for ages, and that the exception for
former Anglicans doesn’t seem so unusual for them.

So what’s up? Is Rome
changing the celibacy discipline by stealth? Are the Vatican officials testing
the water to see how married priests work before they make a wholesale change?
Not really. The truth, as G. K. Chesterton observes, is often just what it
seems. There’s no conspiracy. Rome is not changing the celibacy rule. It is
simply making an exception to Church discipline in order to encourage Christians
who are separated from full communion to “come home to Rome.” If you like, Rome
is sending a very practical message to Anglicans: “We are willing to be flexible
and do everything possible to facilitate your journey home.” Linked with this
explanation is a proper concern for evangelization: Rome hopes the Anglicans who
come in will continue to be an example and minister to other Christians who seek
full communion with the ancient Church of the apostles.

It’s Our Rite!
When the Pastoral Provision was first established in 1980, permission for
married Protestant pastors to be ordained was only part of the plan. In addition
to allowing married Episcopal priests to be ordained, Rome set up a program for
whole parishes to come into the Catholic Church. Not only could their married
ministers be ordained, but congregations of former Episcopalians were permitted
to worship according to their own traditions.

The provision for their
own liturgy is sometimes called the Anglican Rite. To be precise, it’s really
the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite. This is to distinguish it from the Eastern
Rite churches like the Maronites, Melkites, and Malabars that enjoy union with
Rome with not only their own liturgy, but their own hierarchy as well. The
Anglican Usage remains part of the Latin Rite, since the English were
historically part of the Latin Church. Their unusual liturgy is simply one form
of the liturgy authorized for use in the Latin Church.

The Anglican Use parishes
use the Book of Divine Worship,which is based on the 16th-century Book
of Common Prayer written by Thomas Cranmer. The Book of Divine Worship
is a total resource for former Anglicans. Cranmer’s version of the Psalms is
retained, and traditional Anglican services like Morning and Evening Prayer are
authorized for use. In the liturgy of the Eucharist, most of Cranmer’s memorable
and beautiful prayers are retained, but placed in the correct order and
subjected to the doctrinal demands of Catholic liturgy. Anglican Use priests
celebrate the Mass facing the altar; communicants kneel to receive the
Eucharist; and they claim that their liturgy is a faithful 16th-century
translation of the Latin Mass.

A look at the Book of
Divine Worship makes one realize that a huge amount of effort and concern
has gone into the production of a way forward for troubled Episcopalians. Has
there been a huge positive response? Not so far. Only seven Anglican Use
parishes have been established. Of these, only a few are thriving. Our Lady of
the Atonement in San Antonio and Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston have both
built new churches and are supported by growing congregations. The other
Anglican Use parishes either worship in existing Catholic parishes or exist as
small missions.

A Lost Cause?
The most recent Anglican Use congregation is theSociety of St. Thomas More in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. Made up of about 20 families and their former Episcopal
pastor, Rev. Eric Bergman, the members of the society left the Episcopal Church
and were received into full communion by Rev. Charles Connor, the pastor of St.
Peter’s cathedral, in October 2005. Since then, Father Bergman has been
ordained, and the congregation worships according to the Anglican Use in St.
Clare’s Church.

Father Bergman explained
why there has been so little take-up of the Anglican Use so far: For an Anglican
Use parish to be established, an Episcopal priest has to convert with a good
number of his congregation. They have to step out in faith together, without a
building and without financial support for their married priest. After
converting, they have to wait for permission from Rome for their priest to be
ordained. Because of the difficulties involved, some congregations have wanted
to become Anglican Use parishes but their priest was not willing, and vice
versa.

A possible new change in
the rules promises a more positive response in the future. Father Bergman
explained that in November 2006, the leaders of the Anglican Use communities,
the Pastoral Provision Office staff, and Archbishop Myers, the ecclesiastical
delegate, met to discuss how the Pastoral Provision might be more fully
implemented in communities in the United States. Two task forces were created to
draw up proposals for Archbishop Myers, who took them to Rome for approval in
April 2007.

The first proposal
concerns raising money for men and groups in transition from Anglicanism to
Catholicism. The Anglican Use Society will be used to collect money and will
then distribute it in consultation with their bishop. The second suggestion is
to create guidelines to match a priest to a group of Anglicans desiring to take
advantage of the Pastoral Provision. Through these new guidelines, it is hoped
that a priest can be ordained for the Anglican Use, even though he is not
affiliated with a particular congregation. If approved, it is possible that
willing priests and congregations could be matched by late 2007.

An Ecclesiastical
Eccentricity
Not everyone is enthusiastic about these new proposals, however. When given the
Anglican Use option, the English Catholic bishops rejected the possibility
outright. Most of the former Episcopal priests who have been ordained under the
terms of the Pastoral Provision serve as ordinary diocesan priests within the
Roman Rite. They simply resigned from the Episcopal Church to join the Catholic
mainstream. Many of them perceive the Anglican Use with benign indifference.
They see the Book of Divine Worship as a liturgical curiosity, while
others regard the whole thing as an unfortunate ecclesiastical eccentricity.

The $64,000 question is:
Do enough Episcopalians really want their own little churches in
communion with Rome that use the old 16th-century liturgy? Father Bergman thinks
so. He believes the growth in popularity of the Tridentine Mass indicates a
surge in demand for traditional, formal, and beautiful liturgy. In addition to
this, the large number of Anglican breakaway churches use some form of the
traditional liturgy, and the Anglican Use provides a bridge for them to come
into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Father Bergman also points
out that Anglican Use parishes have become a refuge for cradle Catholics from
the stranger liberal liturgical experiments. “The established Anglican Use
communities have many cradle Catholics who come to the Anglican Use Mass because
they appreciate the beauty of the music, the reverence of the liturgy, and the
orthodoxy of the priest,” he explains. Rev. Christopher Phillips, the pastor of
the Church of the Atonement in San Antonio, reports that about 60 percent of its
members are reverts to the Catholic Faith or cradle Catholics who have returned
for what they perceive to be a proper liturgy. People who actually converted to
Catholicism represent only 40 percent of the large Anglican Use parishes in
Texas.

Rather than being an
ecclesiastical eccentricity, it could be that the Anglican Use parishes will
provide a safe haven for shipwrecked Anglicans, as well as a home for Catholics
who are refugees from clown Masses, new age rituals, and the whole range of
goofy liturgical abuses found within the American Catholic Church.

Evangelistic and
Ecumenical Tool
Critics of the Anglican Use argue that the whole thing is a waste of time and
energy. If people want to convert to the Catholic Church, let them convert and
join their local parish. Why should Episcopalians get special treatment? What’s
the point?

Defenders argue that the
Pastoral Provision and Anglican Use parishes are part of a larger ecumenical and
evangelistic plan. If the Catholic Church is serious about unity, then she
should be making every effort possible to reconcile different groups in a
multitude of different ways. The Anglican Use, they say, is a tool for
evangelization and reconciliation.

The Anglican Use “bridge”
is not only a way across the Tiber for Episcopalians; there are an increasing
number of Anglican and Episcopal breakaway churches. To date, there are nearly
100 independent Anglican denominations. As the worldwide Anglican communion goes
into meltdown, there is a real possibility that whole provinces of the Anglican
Church will break away. Could a breakaway denomination or a whole Anglican
province convert and use the Pastoral Provision and Anglican Use in order to
come into full communion with Rome?

Father Bergman explained
that the Pastoral Provision can only be fully implemented in those countries
where the national conference of Catholic bishops approves its implementation.
So far, only the United States conference has done so. Some moves are being made
for bishops’ conferences in other English-speaking countries to do the same, and
there is a dream that the growth of the Anglican Use will one day justify the
creation of a personal prelature or an apostolic administration.

If this were to take
place, there could be a real opportunity for Anglican Use parishes to exist in
many places around the world where the Anglican communion now has a presence.
Some Anglican provinces in Africa and Asia are both Anglo-Catholic and orthodox
in doctrine, and such an option may very well be a way forward as they seek to
disentangle themselves from the irreformably liberal Anglican regimes of
Canterbury and New York.

A Society, a Network, and
a Conference with a Cause
Despite pulling the word “Protestant” from their name 30 years ago, the vast
majority of the Episcopal Church of the United States is Protestant through and
through. They don’t object to the Catholic Church these days with the old cry of
“No popery!” Nor do they react against Rome because they hold to Protestant
doctrine. They object to Rome now because Rome is against feminism,
homosexuality, and the dictatorship of relativism. Most Episcopalians are far
from the banks of the Tiber, but there are still many faithful Episcopalians who
are distressed by the direction their church has taken and who do not wish to
move sideways into one of the many Episcopalian splinter groups.

Why are these priests and
people so slow to investigate the Anglican Use option? It could be that part of
the problem is a lack of publicity and promotion. Faithful Episcopalians still
have many questions and problems about Catholic faith and practice. They have
many prejudices and concerns about just what it means to be Catholic in the 21st
century. A place for them to discuss their concerns is vitally needed.

One of the forums
available is the Coming Home Network. In 1993, former Presbyterian
minister Marcus Grodi founded a small apostolate to tend to fellow Protestant
ministers whose faith pilgrimage was bringing them close to the Catholic Church.
The Coming Home Network has grown enormously since then, thanks to
Grodi’s successful program on EWTN. The greatest portion of clergy converts it
deals with are Episcopalians. Grodi’s organization offers books, resources, and
personal mentoring from others who have already made the journey. It also offers
assistance and advice as clergymen give up their livelihood to come into full
communion with the Catholic Church.

Coming Home Network’s
older sister is the English-based St. Barnabas Society. Founded at the end of
the 19th century, when a large number of Anglican clergymen were coming into the
Catholic Church, the St. Barnabas Society offers pastoral and financial support
to convert clergy and their families. As an established English charity, its
scope is not yet international, but its leadership is aware of the Anglican Use
and follows the developments with interest.

In Pennsylvania, Father
Bergman has taken the call to evangelization seriously and has started an annual
conference on the Anglican Use. The first conference last year attracted 120
participants, 40 of whom were clergy. The theme of last year’s conference was
“Conversion to Catholicism,” and convert Avery Cardinal Dulles was the key-note
speaker.

This year the conference
theme is “The Catholic Priesthood.” Slated for early this month in Washington,
D.C., Father Bergman’s conference offers Episcopalians a chance to network, as
well as the opportunity to meet people and clergy who have taken the step toward
Rome. Episcopalians will gain encouragement as they speak with those who have
blazed the trail, and will begin to see the move as a viable option. In addition
to the conferences, Web sites, and literature, the Office of Pastoral Provision
has hired a convert from the Episcopal priesthood, Taylor Marshall, to help
process all the men who are taking advantage of the Pastoral Provision.

Father Bergman says that
the numbers are growing, and there are more men following this path every year.
The Anglican Use is part of the overall movement toward Rome. “Everywhere an
Anglican Use community is established it reconciles many to the Church.” He
calls on the Catholic faithful to be open to this unusual new development, to
let others know about the Pastoral Provision, and to be generous in donations to
help more Anglican priests take the courageous step to be reconciled to the
Catholic Church.

Foundation or Footnote?
The Pastoral Provision has been in existence for 25 years. Since then, only a
handful of Anglican Use parishes have been established, and the number of
married Episcopal priests to be ordained is currently less than 100.

Is this really a movement
to be reckoned with? Is it the stroke of genius that it seems? Have these first
25 years been a time of quiet foundation-building for a great tidal wave of
Anglican clergy and laity into the Catholic Church, or is the whole movement
just an interesting idea promoted by a few eccentric enthusiasts?

Much depends on the
success of the newly reformed and updated Pastoral Provision Office—whether it
will continue to be proactive in promoting the Pastoral Provision; whether it
will be able to publicize and promote this creative option successfully, along
with committed men like Father Bergman; whether it receives support from the
conferences of bishops and the Vatican; and whether it will be given the
resources to reach out confidently to the various Anglican groups worldwide.

If so, what it has done so
far may well be a solid foundation for an exciting development in the Catholic
Church’s relationship with worldwide Anglicanism. If not, the Anglican Use will
become merely an interesting footnote in the history of ecumenism.

Rev. Dwight Longenecker
was ordained through the Pastoral Provision in December 2006 and serves as
chaplain to St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina, and as
weekend assistant in the parish of St. Mary’s, Greenville. He is the author of
ten books on conversion and the Catholic Faith. Contact him at
www.dwightlongenecker.com